Small Plane Lands on Roof of Building in Southern California

Lowflynjack

Lowflynjack

Final Approach
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Jack Fleetwood
Lucky man!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/small-plane-lands-on-roof-of-building-in-southern-california/

pomona-plane-crash.jpg
 
One of your pics Jack? ;)
Ya didn't get the spinning prop on this one lol.
Glad it worked out, lucky man indeed.
 
mscard88 said:
One of your pics Jack? ;)
Ya didn't get the spinning prop on this one lol.
Glad it worked out, lucky man indeed.
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I told him to get a little lower... guess he misunderstood!!
 
I can't say the thought to land on top of a building in an engine out situation has never crossed my mind. I'd really have to be out of other options to attempt it though.
 
I would consider it to be a superior option than smacking in to the side of the building.
 
"I realized there is no runway around here, so he's going to crash."

Umm, the crash site is maybe 2 miles from Brackett.

And there HAVE to be better choices. That site is near three different freeways, and there are open, flat fields around a thousand feet west (on the other side of 57), and more just over a mile southwest. While I probably wouldn't attempt a landing on I-10 unless traffic were unusually light, 57 and especially 71 are much lighter, at least in one direction at a time.
 
Another fantastic "short-field" landing. Clearly up-slope was more important than wind direction :D
 
"The Cessna Cherokee was flying with only a single engine, VFR, unsupervised by ATC, without a flight plan and no co-pilot. The plane came down within 32 miles of a school that would have been full of children had the crash occurred just a day later. Local authorities are demanding a full investigation into the incident to rule out any terrorist threat. A source close to the pilot admits he has a long history of this kind of hazardous activity."

He made the best of a bad situation. Kudos.
 
If you look behind the plane at the roof, it looks like another plane went in before! Maybe it has a plane magnet installed! :)
pomona-plane-crash.jpg
 
When flying a 152 in NJ, I was told many times to consider Walmart(and other superstores) roofs as a good landing spot amidst dense population.
 
I do a lot of flying through So Cal...I dunno, I'm not gonna lie...there are some areas that a rooftop does seem like the best option if you do not have the glide distance for an open area.

We had a large building under the pattern of my training field and my CFI and I always plotted if we could actually put it down on top of there...not that we needed to but it was more of the "sure we probably COULD".

Pilot survived and no one on the ground injured. I say good call.
 
Shepherd said:
"The Cessna Cherokee was flying with only a single engine, VFR, unsupervised by ATC, without a flight plan and no co-pilot. The plane came down within 32 miles of a school that would have been full of children had the crash occurred just a day later. Local authorities are demanding a full investigation into the incident to rule out any terrorist threat. A source close to the pilot admits he has a long history of this kind of hazardous activity."

He made the best of a bad situation. Kudos.
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Well if he was terroristing then I'm going to say he wasn't very good at it. lol
 
Good short field technique ,hope he recovers quickly. Can't wait to read the full report.
 
Shepherd said:
"The Cessna Cherokee was flying with only a single engine, VFR, unsupervised by ATC, without a flight plan and no co-pilot. The plane came down within 32 miles of a school that would have been full of children had the crash occurred just a day later. Local authorities are demanding a full investigation into the incident to rule out any terrorist threat. A source close to the pilot admits he has a long history of this kind of hazardous activity."

He made the best of a bad situation. Kudos.
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Lol, within 32 miles of a school . . . that's sensationalism at its best.
 
We had a group in Texas called "Take Our Skies Back Over Georgetown" You could not win an argument with the guy who started it (he may have been the only member). He would tell people we were flying over schools risking the lives of the children. He would say we were flying low over their houses, destroying their property values. I walked him over to an aerial photo taken in 1943 and asked him to point out the houses or schools when the airport was built. It was nothing but open fields... they knew they were building next to an airport. He said it didn't matter, the City of Georgetown was there before the airport, therefore people had the right to build near the airport and shouldn't have to put up with it! I found out he had bought a house really cheap, but it was right off of the end of the most used runway, 18. Funny how he saved money because it was on the flight path, then tried to shut down the airport. He ended up getting swept away in a flood trying to cross a river during flash flooding.
 
Shepherd said:
"The Cessna Cherokee was flying with only a single engine, VFR, unsupervised by ATC, without a flight plan and no co-pilot.
Click to expand...

Oh crap, I've done all of that on numerous occasions except I never flew a Cessna Cherokee. Are they fun?
 
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